The Secrets Hidden in the Shadows
by Faith.may
Summary: Gaara of the sand is a young boy that has shut everyone and everything out of his heart, but he was not always this way. What will happen when a young girl with a dark past, who knew him before he shut everyone out, meets up with him again during the chuinn exams? Will she be able to change him or will he remain as the dark unfeeling shell? I hope you will give my fic a chance.


**Author's Note**

** Hey guys. I know that it was been a LONG time since I have been on here. I have had some things in my life that prevented me from writing, but I am back now. I have decided to rewrite my fan fiction. I honestly just don't really remember where I was going with my ideas, and it WAS NOT my best writing, at all. I'm hoping to post about every two weeks, but I can't promise that I will be able to. I will do my best to keep up. Again, for all of my followers, I'm sorry. I hope that I didn't disappoint you too much and that you will still give my fanfic a chance. I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. I do own my OCs, though so please do not steal them. I love you guys! Please leave me a review! Enjoy! **

**Kana (my OC and the main character)**

**Full Name/Meaning:**** Kanashimi- sorrow or sadness **

**Age:**** 6 in the first few chapters and then 13 in later chapters**

**Weapons:**** Kunai, shuriken, bladed knuckles, and a long sword that straps to her back.**

**Justus:**** She is a master of mind Justus, and transformation Justus. She also knows some basic medical Justus. **

** Appearance: Kani has long red hair that she keeps in a ponytail with her bangs down. She wears her headband on her forehead with her bangs coming out from behind them, she has bright blue eyes, she is short for her age, and she has a modest amount of muscle. She wears weights on her wrists and angles. The weights are plain and silver, they look like bracelets. She normally wears a light purple and black short kimono top with black tights and simple black sandals. She wears a small black pack with her shuriken, bandages, money, and some simple medicines on her right leg. She has her sword on her back and the case for her sword holds her kunai. Her bladed knuckles stay tucked in her belt.**

**Other:**** Read to find out! **

Chapter One

_A Broken Promise_

I am walking slowly through the village, I had been a little outside the gates training, and I am trying to make myself invisible as I make my way to the terrorizing place I call home. It isn't all that hard, seeing how no one ever noticed me. _Why would they? I'm just a mistake, a worthless slip-up._ I can hear a group of kids playing and a pang of loneliness pierces me. I pause in the middle of a step, my foot still dangling in the air. I don't know what causes me to look to the group of children, but I do know the pounding need and want to go and join them. I want to play and have fun too. _I deserve that, don't I? _

I look at every one of the kids faces. I gaze at their carefree looks of pleasure and feel a sharp pang of envy pulse through me. I want what they have. I squeeze my fists tight, digging my nails into my palms and biting the inside of my cheek to stop from showing the pain on my face. I notice a red haired boy, about my age, looking at me. It's strange. I don't get looked at, I get looked through. It's more than a little unnerving, but before I can run from this somehow familiar face, I hear voices cry out in loud complaints, and then both the boy and I turn to see the group of kids standing around looking disappointed. I think I heard something about not being able to do the wall-climbing technique to be able to get a ball. I glance up and see their ball up high on top of a wall._ Good, now they won't be happy anymore, _I think. Then a small amount of sand slowly moves underneath the ball, and the ball is carried down into the hands of the red haired boy from before. _Are you kidding me? You should have just left it up there kid. There deserved it for being so stupid._

The kids look alarmed to see the red haired boy standing there with the ball in his hands. I watch as this alarmed look changes to something else. They all now have this terrified look on their faces as that stare at him and stumble over words that are hard for me to hear. The red haired boy looks down, as if unsure of himself, and then holds the ball out for the other kids.

"Gaara of the sand," one of the kids says. As another one says, "It's Gaara!" Their voices are panicky, and I wonder why. _Gaara seems like a okay kid to me, a little too sweet, but okay in their terms. _

A girl in the group shouts to run, and that is all it takes for all of them to take off. I can see the heartbroken look on Gaara's face as he reaches out a hand towards the group.

"Wait!" Gaara yells his voice full of desperation. "Don't go away!" _He's alone… like me. _ I watch as Gaara's sand begins to move. The sand grabs the running kids and is pulling them back towards him. They are screaming things like "Help me!" and "No!", but I am frozen. I'm unable to do anything but watch the scene play out before me.

Some sand grabs on to one of the girl's legs, and I could have sworn that I heard it snap. The sand begins to fly at her and this is when my body becomes unfrozen. I don't run to the girl, I know I won't make it in time, I run towards Gaara. _I might not like these kids, but I don't want to see anyone get badly hurt._ Anyone that bothered to think about what was happening would see the Gaara was not in control of what was happening. _Maybe if I distract him for a second, he will snap out of it. _With that plan in mind, I prepare to yell his name when the crushing weight of the sand restrains me to the unforgiving ground. The sand weighs a ton as it pushes me roughly into the ground. I twist my head painfully to see the sand gaining speed as it gets closer to the girl. I shut my eyes. I don't want to see this. I didn't want them to get hurt, no matter how much I hate them. I can't help it. I've seen too much pain and hurt already in my six years.

When the screams don't come, I open my eyes. There is a man standing in front of the girl. From the way he is standing I'd say that he blocked the sand from her. The man's arms are one over the other, and one has blood running down from it. There's a bleeding cut above his right eye.

"Lord Gaara, please calm yourself!" the man yells. Gaara snaps out of it with a jerk and looks at the ground in distress. _That's why that name sounded familiar. Gaara is Lord Kazekage's youngest son. _The man sighs and looks around at everyone. The sand falls away from me. I am the closest to Gaara and he has a look of absolute misery on his face. Before I even know what I'm doing, I slowly stagger over to him. I didn't realize before now, but I am hurt. My body throbs with every step I take.

"Gaara," I creak out. I didn't remember choosing to say anything. A strain is put on my vocal cords, and my voice breaks. I haven't spoken in a long time. Gaara looks up, shocked. "You're alone too, aren't you?" I utter. _What are you doing mouth? Shut up! Stop talking! _Gaara was shocked before, but now he just looks baffled at my words. His mouth hangs open, and I'm sure that he would have answered, but the man speaks again, walking over to us.

"Hello there little one, who are you?" the man lowers himself so that he is at the same level as me. "I don't think I have seen you here before." I look at the ground and do not say a word. I want to run, but my legs feel like they are rooted to the spot. "My name is Yashamaru. What's your name?" I still do not speak. My mouth feels like it has been glued shut. A few minutes pass in tense silence before Yashamaru tries to talk to me again. "You look hurt. I am a member of the medical corps. I can help you." At this I slowly look up. Yashamaru gives me a small smile. The look in Yashamaru's eyes tells me that everything is going to be okay. I don't like liars, even if they do not mean to lie. "It's okay. You can trust me." Those words 'trust me' circle around my head and memories come up as well. I shake my head slowly, while stepping away from Yashamaru. _It's not true. I can't trust anyone, but myself. I'm the only one I can trust. They are all liars, cheats, and monsters! _

My feet become unstuck and I run. The pain multiples with every jeering step, but I can't stay there. It's so much simpler just to stay invisible. I run until the pain begins to be too much, and then I fall into an uneasy stroll.

It has gotten dark quick tonight. The moon is out, but there are no stars. It is cloudy. I have always loved the night sky. It helps me think and tonight is no different. I find myself wondering about questions that I have never been able to answer. _What happened to my mother? Why does Father hate me? Did I do something wrong? _I stop walking. A cloud passes over the moon coating everything in darkness and a breeze blows through the streets. _Its cold out tonight, _I think as I suppress a shiver.

"Hey, you're that girl," a familiar sounding voice says. I slowly turn with wide eyes to see Gaara looking at me.

"Me?" I ask.

"Yes, you, what's your name?" Gaara asks. _Do not say anything. Don't open your mouth. Run._

"Um… my name's Kanashimi," I manage to get out. _Shut up! Why am I talking to him? I need to go, now! I need to just run. _

"That's a long name," Gaara comments.

"You can call me Kana, if you want. It's shorter," I whisper looking at the ground. _What are you doing Kana?! Get it together already and run. You can't trust anyone. Run. _ Gaara steps up closer to me.

"You're hurt. I'm sorry I didn't want to hurt anyone."

"It's ok. I'm used to it," I whisper as I draw circles in the dirt with my bare foot. _I'm so retarded. Why did I say that?! Why am I still here?! What's wrong with me?!_

"I have something that will make you feel better. It was meant for someone else but you need it more." Gaara gives me an unsure smile as he gently pushes a brown bag into my hands. I stare dumbly down at the bag in my hands.

"Why? Why would you give this to me?" I ask after I take a deep breath.

Gaara looks very confused. "I hurt you and I didn't mean to. I'm sorry, and this will make it better. This will fix it. Did I do something wrong?"

"No you didn't. Its ok, I guess. I'm just not…" I'm cut off from finishing my thought when a loud voice slurs behind me and a rough hand lands on my shoulder.

"There you are! I've been looking for your ass everywhere! Where have you been?" He grabs my arms and starts to shake me, his voice rising louder. "You know the rules you ungrateful little piece of shit!" I drop the bag Gaara had just handed me, crying out in pain as my neck is snapped back and forth.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I lost track of time I'm sorry! I'm sorry father! Please I'm sorry!" I can feel the burn of tears in my eyes. He throws me to the ground, and I land with a grunt of pain. He raises his bottle, and I cover my face with my arms, preparing for the pain of the bottle smashing on top of me. It never comes. I only hear the smash of the bottle as it crashes to the ground, and something warm lands on my arms. _I thought the stuff he drunk was cold._

"Kana, are you ok?" I peck out to see Gaara looking at me. I had honestly forgotten he was there in my panic.

"I…I…," I trail off as I see the crumpled form of my father. "Father…" I crawl to him. I roll him on his back. There is blood coming from his mouth. There is blood everywhere. My frantic eyes spot the warm blood that coats part of my arm. My father's eyes are open and are staring at nothing. "What did you do? What did you do!?" I jump up and stare at Gaara with wide eyes.

"He was hurting you," Gaara says slowly like it explains everything. "I was trying to help. I just didn't want you to get hurt."

"That wasn't for you to do! That wasn't for you to do! That was my job! He was my mess to clean up, not yours! I was meant to kill him, not you! It wasn't supposed to be you! He killed my sister! I told her, I promised her that I would kill him! It was supposed to be me! I was supposed to kill him… not you… me… only me… what did you do?" _No… it was supposed to be me. I was supposed to do it for Sisie. I let my big sister down… now she died without justice. I broke my promise. I'm sorry Sisie I'm so sorry; I couldn't even do this one last thing for you. I broke my promise. Please forgive me… I love you. _ I slowly slip to my knees allowing the numbness to cover me like a warm blanket. I look up at Gaara as if I am in a daze. "Kill me. Please kill me."

"No!" Gaara is shaking his head, hard. "I'm not going to kill you. I don't want to hurt anyone anymore…"

"Fine then," I say lowly. "I'll just have to make you kill me." I say as I jump at the jinchuuriki of the sand with an inhuman growl.

**Author's Note**

** So, I hope that wasn't awful and that you enjoyed it. Please REVIEW! I'll see you soon with more! The more reviews the faster I will write! Love you guys! Have an amazing day and keep reading! **


End file.
